The success(ion) and corruption of crime genres in Jo Nesbø's Macbeth (2018)

Sandro Eich*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

This essay argues that Jo Nesbø’s crime fiction re-writing of William Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth critiques how the history of crime fiction genres has been written as a linear process of succession. By presenting how issues of succession in Renaissance culture have led to anxieties of continuation and stability, I demonstrate that Nesbø’s novel creates an anachronistic net of cultural memories to historical moments of successive change (the reign of Elizabeth I, James VI/I, the Victorian era, and post-Brexit Scotland). As such, Nesbø figures the play’s omnipresent ambiguities productive by dissolving their exclusionary opposition, rather bringing such contrasts into a discursive dialogue with one another. The novel thus subverts the forces of succession by creating a narrative that mobilizes the various themes and tropes of previous crime genre traditions, bringing them together within one text. Deep mapping the conglomerate national and temporal situation of Nesbø’s corrupt world thus becomes emblematic for what Jacques Derrida describes in his “law of genre” as the corruption of genre boundaries. As a result, the novel proves fruitful for thinking about both the success of crime fiction genres as a phenomenon of popular culture and scholarly approaches toward theorizing recent developments in Scottish crime-fiction writing.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe crossroads of crime writing
Subtitle of host publicationunseen structures and uncertain spaces
EditorsMeghan P. Nolan, Rebecca Martin
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherAnthem Press
Chapter9
Pages191-208
Number of pages18
ISBN (Electronic)9781839991196
ISBN (Print)9781839991172
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 26 Mar 2024

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